Dead Week

The sound of fluttering pages filled the corner of the library's third floor. Totality pushed up her glasses with one hoof as she dual wielded a book and quill with her magic. She scribbled frantically on a piece of parchment as she speed read the floating document.

Comet Shard, her light blue boyfriend, sat across the library table from her, tapping his hoof slowly on the table, eyes half lidded in boredom.

He exhaled a puff of breath straight up into his wavy white mane. "So… you're not coming with me?" he droned.

"I can't. I'm sorry,” she replied without looking up. “I really have to wrap this assignment up. It’s my last chance since my next two classes are back to back."

"Fine," he muttered, getting up from his chair. "I'll just go to the caf instead."

"We'll do something later," promised Totality.

"Whatever," he breathed.

They kissed goodbye and he left through the stacks in a brooding slouch.

She sighed in disappointment, watching him disappear over the brim of her reference book. He was seriously bent out of shape over this. It was kind of shocking. She’d never had to draw a hard line like this before.

Am I too stingy with my time? she began to wonder. The book and quill idled in the air as she became worried, distracted, now mentally compiling a list of everything she'd done with Comet over the past couple of weeks. We always eat together. We had one real date and three sort of dates in Canterlot. She wasn’t being a prude. No pony was going to accuse her of that. Hell, they’d even frittered away whole afternoons loafing around doing nothing at all but watching clouds and making daisy chains. No, she concluded. He's the one being unreasonable here. He can’t just expect me to revolve around him.

Sometimes you have to do work in college. It was their first year and they were getting close to finals too. What was the point of getting into Canterlot Academy if you were just going to run around and goof off all the time? If anything, she’d sacrificed too much school time for him.

Totality spun in her chair to look out the window. Three stories down, she could see Comet Shard traipsing across the courtyard to the big fountain where their mutual History of Magic classmate, Hazy Sheen, sat alone. Hazy, Totality’s bane from her old school in Manehatten, was easily recognisable from this altitude by her giant purple mane and fuschia coat.

Totality enjoyed being with Comet and they had fun, but he was kind of… greedy and high maintenance, and it was really starting to drag on her academic aspirations. She watched as Hazy and Comet left the fountain together. Totality pressed her forehead against the glass. “That’s not the way to the cafeteria,” she murmured.

She spun back around, intending to finish her work, but she couldn’t put it out of her mind. They were clearly heading toward the girl’s dorm. Totality teleported from her chair, abandoning her bag and stack of books. She blinked onto the front steps of the library and rushed out into the courtyard. The two reappeared in her view just before they entered the dorm.

Totality felt sick but tried to reserve judgment as she entered cautiously behind them. She waited to maintain a safe distance and then followed them up the stairs. She paused to peek around the corner just as the two entered Hazy’s room and the door clicked shut.

Totality slumped to the floor with her face in her hooves. Maybe it’s not what it looks like, she lied to herself. Of course it’s what it looked like. Why did it have to be Hazy?

"Son of a bitch,” she growled. “The one time I blow him off to finally do something actually responsible, he wanders off to find somepony else." She got to her hooves and slunk to Hazy’s door. On the door lever hung a single horseshoe, the universal collegiate ‘do not disturb’ sign.

Totality’s heart ripped in two at the sight. What did I do to deserve this betrayal, she thought. She grimaced. Gross. Traces of my saliva are probably on Hazy’s lips right now.

She raised a hoof to knock, intending to give Comet a heart attack if they answered, but ultimately realized that she really didn't care to barge in on the situation. It didn't matter what they did in there. This relationship was now over, as far as Totality was concerned.

I can’t just turn around and walk away though, she thought. I demand to exact some form of petty retaliation at the least.

She looked around and spotted a little table along the wall that looked about the right height. She grabbed it with her magic and levitated it over, scooting it in just under the door handle, blocking it from turning. Neither one of them could aparate. They’d be stuck in the room until somepony moved the table or they squeezed out the second story window.

Satisfied with her meager consolation, Totality plodded away down the hall, her head hung low. “Not going to cry,” she told herself. “I’d rather be angry forever than cry over this a single time.” But the tears came anyway.

Totality sat in the front row of her history of magic class on the left side of the auditorium. She’d deliberately moved from her and Comet Shard’s usual spot near the back right, hoping that if or when he showed up he wouldn’t sit near her. This was where she wanted to sit all along anyway.

“Hey,” came a whisper from behind her.

Totality turned her head curiously to look back and up. Behind her was a fidgeting mint green unicorn. He had a gray mop of a mane attop his head through which she could only see a single blue eye peeking out. The look reminded her of a yak or a shaggy dog.

“What’s your name?” he asked

“Totality,” she sighed.

“Totality, do you have an extra quill I can borrow?”

“Uh, no." She shook her head. "Sorry.”

“Oh, okay.”

She turned back around and immediately became aware of the soft anxious tapping of his hoof on the floor just behind her.

“Why’s your cutie mark upside down?” he asked.

“Read my thesis,” she grumbled over her shoulder.

"Okay." He paused briefly before continuing the unwanted conversation. "I've never seen an upside down cutie mark before."

Totality closed her eyes and ignored him, hoping he'd just stop on his own but he did not.

“Actually my dad’s cutie mark is a cloud with stars, so I can't tell if it's upside down or not... Woah, I never thought about this before. How can you even tell on some of them? I know mine isn’t upside down. Unless… No, it’s still right side up.”

No wonder there’s so much room to sit over here, she thought.

"My mom's cutie mark is a calculator. If it was upside down, it would say ‘boobless.’”

Totality snorted and hunched over her desk, choking on stifled laughter. It was enough of a disturbance that Professor Moondancer shot a mystified glance her way as she scratched a chalk piece up high on the monumental chalkboard.

Who is this guy? What the hell is he talking about? He'd carefully whispered this to her as if it was some piece of vital information. Was he seriously still talking to her or was he just thinking weird thoughts out loud?

Her brain refocused to anger as Comet suddenly entered the auditorium, face flush from galloping and possibly whatever stunt he had to do to escape Hazy's room. Hazy herself was right behind him.

"They actually came in together," scoffed Totality. "Idiots…"

She looked down at her notes and held a hoof up in front of her face in a feeble attempt to disappear. Her charcoal gray coat usually made her stand out in a pack of unicorns who were in general much lighter and colorful. The high contrast against her fiery yellow and orange mane only made it worse.

Totality grumbled incoherently as she sensed the seat beside her fill up. She looked over at Comet, trying not to scowl. Clearly he thought getting trapped in the room was just some prank of opportunity by somepony else.

"What did you have at the cafeteria?" she mumbled.

"Huh? Oh, uh, cereal," he exhaled.

"Why are you so late?"

"Lost track of time."

The wave of anger and disgust that broke over her was unquantifiable, not comparable to any recorded precedent. She just sat there, her pinched face heating up. It was insufferable but they couldn't just have it out right here in class in the middle of a lecture, so she waited.

Somehow Totality bit her tongue to the end of class when Professor Moondancer brought up the final project again.

“You only have two weeks to do this, which is why I want you working in pairs.” Also, it’s less grading, Moondancer thought to herself. “You’ll find a way to generate the necessary synergy to get it done by the end of dead week. If you didn’t write your group on the list at the beginning of class, do it now. I want to know before you walk out the door today.”

Ponies began leaving their seats, most of them filing toward the door.

“Did you already sign us up?” yawned Comet.

“No,” replied Totality through clenched teeth.

Comet got up casually and walked toward Moondancer’s desk. Great, thought Totality. We’re going to have to do this right here, right now. I am not signing up for a group project with him just so we can break up in a less public setting. She aparated in front of him to block his path.

“What are you doing?” she sneered in a low voice, trying to be discreetly confrontational.

Comet frowned. “Uh, signing us up for the project?”

“I’m not going to be your partner in any sense of the word for anything here on out. We’re done.”

“What are you talking about?"

“I saw you leave the fountain with Hazy and go to the dorm.”

He suddenly looked away. “Yeah, she asked me for help with chemistry.”

“Well, half of that claim checks out because only a dumbass would ask you for help in chem.”

“What the hell?” he growled. “You’re just being possessive and jealous.”

Totality aparated the horseshoe from her saddlebag, scoring a ringer on Comet’s horn. He recoiled in surprise before floating the item off to examine it.

“What…” His eyes narrowed. “You followed me? You said you had work to do.”

“Yeah, and you said you had cereal at the cafeteria.”

Moondancer rolled her eyes from behind her desk at their animated melodrama. "I gotta get out of these 101 classes," she muttered under her breath.

Thankfully the auditorium had mostly cleared out, leaving minimal witnesses to the squabble.

“Okay, fine,” agreed Comet angrily. “Hazy, be in my group for the project,” he shouted.

“Okay,” chimed Hazy from the seats in the insipid airy voice that Totality despised so much.

"Oh, big surprise," snarled Totality. She turned to the desk. "I guess…" her voice deflated to despair, "put me in the drawing."

Moondancer looked at her list. "There's only one unpaired student left and it's… Gamma Burst?" she called.

"Hey, that's my name!" Shouted the mint green stallion, who was still sitting in his seat, folding origami throwing stars with his magic. “Wooooo! Uh, what?"

Moondancer furrowed her brow in confusion. "Yeah… you're paired with Totality for the project."

"You asked to be my partner?" he gasped excitedly.

Totality facehooved and grumbled. “This is the worst day since the one where I literally died.”